492 Mr. R. King on the unexplored Coast of North America. 



*' The statements made in it respecting the river situated to 

 the north and east of the Athabasca Lake, have been gathered 

 from the Indians, and have been repeated to cverij traveller 

 since Hearne, who has visited that part of the country. Yet 

 none have thought it prudent to follo'w the course ishich would 

 lead to it, on account of the ackmrnledged difficulties in traver- 

 sing the barren grounds for near 300 miles, which is the esti- 

 mated distance of its source from Fond du Lac. The river 

 there does not, it is imagined, Jlo>w to the northward, but to the 

 eastward, and probably falls into the sea in Knapp's Bay, or 

 between the Chesterfield and Wager inlets. Mr. Ki7ig seems 

 indeed to be aware of this supposition by his proposal of crossing 

 a portage, and getting to Back's river by one of its tributaries, 

 whence he proposes to follow Captain Back's course to the 

 sea : but the only ultimate object which I can discover in such 

 a plan, is to ascertain whether beyond Cape Hay the isthmus 

 of Boothia be either met with or ca7i be proved not to exist. 



" I do not know how Mr. King is to find fuel at the winter 

 quarters which he pi'oposes to make on the banks of the The- 

 lewdezeth, or near the source of it, as I have ahvays under- 

 stood that part of the country to be destitiite of wood. I much 

 doubt also the possibility of a party getting a sufficient quantity 

 offsh in any river in that quarter to support it during a winter; 

 though as the baiTen grounds abound with deer, a sufficient 

 quantity of these might, by possibility, be killed for a winter's 

 supply, if a party arrived on the spot where it proposed to 

 winter early in the autumn before the deer quit these la?ids. 

 But this seems so improbable on Mr. King's plan, that on the 

 whole I cannot recommend his proposal to the favourable 

 consideration of the Council. 



(Signed) "John Franklin." 



1 St. Suppose the information had only been gathered from 

 the Indians, is it the less valuable on that account ? Is it not, 

 on the contrary, information of the most valuable kind ? Let 

 the existence of the Polar Sea, and the Fury and Hecla Strait; 

 the source, course and outlet of the Great Fish river ; and 

 the trending of the east coast of Melville Peninsula, bear testi- 

 mony to its value. But I deny that the existence of the Fish 

 river depends solely upon Indian authority. At pages 75 and 

 1 54 of Sir George Back's Narrative, it is clearly stated that 

 the river is also known to the fur traders. 



2nd. One would suppose, that as the existence of the river 

 has been mentioned to every traveller since Hearne, that a 

 long list of travellers had visited that part of the country. 

 Now it so happens that the onl}' traveller since Hearne's time 

 that could have the most remote idea of following that river 



